Bali 2.0 II: Up North

The breakfast buffet at the hotel was pretty meh. Resigned myself to the egg and porridge station for the coming days. Started the day with a 3-hour bus ride to Karmel at Bedugul, which is located north of Denpasar. With a big group of people, toilet stops are a big deal. Facilities in the outskirts of Denpasar are limited, so a simple stop at a petrol station could take an hour because there's only one toilet cubicle. Half of us need to run to the Indomaret (a local konbini) as an alternative. While waiting, we could shop for some snacks.

The weather was cool at St. Joseph Karmel because it's located in the highlands (1,500m). Looming on the horizon was Mt. Kintamani. The place is super quiet and is perfect for retreats. Explored the grounds with it's large grotto and beautiful adoration room. 

Mass was celebrated at a chapel with an amazing view of the surrounding hills right behind the altar. Instead of pews, we say cross-legged on the wood flooring. After mass, a local priest treated us to wine that he personally brewed. Wonder if they use that as sacramental wine.

With some time to kill before lunch, we hopped over to the local market at Bedugul. Basically fresh produce, local crafts, and flowers. Nearly every stall had an abundance of local grapes, strawberries, passionfruit, mangosteen, salak, and a weird buah salju, which is cotton-y fruit.

Headed on to Matahari Resto for a buffet lunch. If I remember correctly, I ate there back in 2009. The restaurant overlooks Danau Beratan, a lake that sits in the caldera of a dormant volcano. My favourite item was the banana fritters. Next up, we went to Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, a temple that's dedicated to the goodness of the lake. The surrounding area seems to have been upgraded to a semi-theme park atmosphere since my last visit. Today, there are manicured gardens, a cafe, photo-op spots, a small petting zoo, and a cool koi pond where you step out to the middle of the water on artificial lily pads and when you feed fish, they crowd around you dramatically. Took plenty of photos there, and nearly melted in the sun.

The last point of interest of the day was Pura Taman Ayun, the family temple of the Mengwi kingdom. Basically a temple in a garden setting, it's one of the most-visited temples in Bali. The temple compound is surrounded by a canal which reminded me Angkor Wat. 

Returned to town for a satisfying grilled pork ribs dinner (in local cooking style) at Wahaha which successfully made us forget about the 3-hour bus ride earlier.